JIHADIST VIOLENCE: THE INDIAN THREAT By Stephen Tankel Jihadist Violence: The Indian Threat 1 Available from : Asia Program Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 www.wilsoncenter.org/program/asia-program ISBN: 978-1-938027-34-5 THE WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS, established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a living national memorial to President Wilson. The Center’s mission is to commemorate the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson by providing a link between the worlds of ideas and policy, while fostering research, study, discussion, and collaboration among a broad spectrum of individuals concerned with policy and scholarship in national and interna- tional affairs. Supported by public and private funds, the Center is a nonpartisan insti- tution engaged in the study of national and world affairs. 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Mirtchev, Wayne Rogers, Leo Zickler PREFACE India, the world’s most populous democracy, faces a multitude of challenges that, if not wisely managed, could threaten India’s hopes of becoming one of the 21st century’s major global actors: growing disparities between rich and poor, a decrepit education system that too often fails to prepare its students to flourish in the modern economy, food and water insecurity, corrupt or unresponsive institutions, and horrific environmental degradation, to name just a few. Less often noted, particularly by foreign observers, is the wide range of terrorist groups and violent insurgencies that, to one degree or another, plague most of the states of India. This report examines one of those terrorist groups: a loosely organized indigenous Islamist militant network known as the Indian Mujahideen, or IM. This Indian jihadist movement, Stephen Tankel notes, is “an internal security issue with an external dimension.” Most often, the author argues, analysts have focused on what he calls “expeditionary terrorism,” or violence perpetrated by actors from countries outside India—typically Pakistan or Bangladesh. Quite clearly, there is also an external dimension to IM, whose leadership is currently based in Pakistan. But it would be incorrect, Tankel asserts, to explain Indian jihadism primarily by reference to Pakistan. The IM threat is a response to Indian domestic failings, including political malfeasance, economic inequality, and a widespread sense of injustice. However, it is one far more lethal as a result of external support. The Wilson Center’s Asia Program is pleased to have worked with Professor Tankel to make this scholarly study available to a wider public. As Tankel sensibly concedes, the IM may not be a threat of the first order to U.S. interests in South Asia and beyond. II Stephen Tankel Nonetheless, Washington does have a compelling incentive to understand the evolution and dynamics of Indian jihadism, and to work with Indians to ensure that their homegrown jihadist movement does not morph into one that could either directly endanger central U.S. interests or become a genuine threat to a stable, democratic India. Robert M. Hathaway Director, Asia Program Woodrow Wilson Center Jihadist Violence: The Indian Threat III CONTENTS Dramatis Personae ..............................................................................3 Introduction......................................................................................... 7 Methodology....................................................................................... 8 Evolution of Indian Jihadism............................................................. 10 Seeds of Homegrown Terrorism............................................. 10 Nurturing an Indigenous Movement...................................... 13 Phase I..................................................................................... 15 D-Company Draws First Blood......................................... 15 TIM: Wellspring of LeT’s Indian Networks..................... 16 ARCF: Forerunner of Indian Mujahideen.........................20 Phase 2 ..................................................................................24 NextGen Jihad ................................................................ 28 Phase 3 ................................................................................ 36 Indian Mujahideen: Halcyon Days...................................37 Phase 4 .............................................................................43 Beyond Batla House........................................................46 Dynamics of Indian Jihadism .........................................................53 Scale and Composition .......................................................53 Ideology ..............................................................................56 Drivers and Recruitment ...................................................64 External Support and Influence ...........................................69 Conclusion: Qualifying the Threat ..................................................... 74 Notes ................................................................................................ 78 Author’s Biography ..........................................................................103 Jihadist Violence: The Indian Threat 1 DRAMATIS PERSONAE Rashid Abdullah (aka Wali), LeT commander for the Indian Ocean rim Sabauddin Ahmed, Indian LeT operative involved in 2005 attack against the IISc in Bangalore, arrested Mohammed Atif Ameen, Indian militant, head of the Indian Mujahideen’s Azamgarh module, deceased Shahnawaz Alam, Indian militant, member of Azamgarh module Ali Abdul Aziz al-Hooti, Indian militant, acted as interface for LeT and the Indian Mujahideen Sheikh Sai’d al-Masri, former al-Qaeda number 3, deceased Aftab Ansari, Indian gangster turned militant, briefly led Asif Raza Commando Force, arrested Jalees Ansari, Indian militant, founding member of Tanzim Islahul Muslimeen, deceased Syed Zabiuddin Ansari (aka Abu Jundal), Indian militant, LeT operative who fled following the Aurangabad arms haul, in LeT’s control room in Karachi for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, arrested Maulana Masood Azhar, founder of Jaish-e-Mohammad, former member of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Ahmad Siddi Bapa (aka Yasin Bhatkal and Shahrukh), Indian militant, became IM field commander, arrested Muzammil Butt, Pakistan-based LeT commander for Indian operations Mohsin Choudhary, Indian militant, member of Azamgarh module Lalbaba Farid (aka Bilal), Indian militant, arrested Muhammad Azam Ghauri, Indian militant, founding member of Tanzim Islahul Muslimeen, deceased Jihadist Violence: The Indian Threat 3 Afzal Guru, doctor from Kashmir, participant in December 2001 attack on Indian Parliament, executed in 2013 Abu Hamza, alias of Pakistani LeT commander responsible for 2005 IISc attack in Bangalore David Headley, Pakistani American operative for LeT, conducted reconnaissance for 2008 Mumbai attacks, in prison in United States Fayyiz Kagzi, Indian LeT operative, wanted for his role in 2006 Ahmedabad railway bombing Abdul Karim (aka Tunda), Indian militant, founding member of Tanzim Islahul Muslimeen, LeT’s top field operative in India during 1990s, arrested Ilyas Kashmiri, leader of 313 Brigade, head of operations in Pakistan for al-Qaeda, presumed dead Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, Muslim leader of South Asia’s largest crime syndicate, D-company, responsible for 1993 blasts Sheikh Abdul Khaja (aka Amjad), Indian militant, arrested Amir Raza Khan, Indian gangster-turned-militant, founder of Asif Raza Commando Force, LeT interface with Indian Mujahideen Asif Raza Khan, Indian gangster-turned-militant, deceased Fasih Mahmood, Indian LeT operative, arrested Tiger Memon, mobster, associate of Dawood Ibrahim, engineered the lethal series of bomb blasts in Mumbai in March 1993 Jalaluddin Mullah (aka Babu